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29 août 2025 12:38
Viewing Network cards in UEFI Shell
Hello,
We are trying to access network cards from the UEFI shell or from grub on Dell Poweredge Servers (R640 and R240). The main cards we are trying to access are Intel XXV 710 but we also have integrated NICs (but not connected).
- Those cards are fully operational even for PXE Boot, are used by the OS, are clearly visible by idrac.
- Under UEFI Shell, we see that all the firmware for IP connectivity are available and so is the driver for the card,
- 'drvdiag' runs successfully when given the handle of the driver.
- idrac, bios and intel firmware have been updated to the latest versions.
But when we are under the UEFI Shell utility 'ifconfig -l' lists no cards. Likewise, on grub command line, 'net_ls_cards' lists no cards.
On equivalent HP servers, the cards and embedded NICs are visible in both situations. There does not seem to be a major difference in the available UEFI modules.
Is it a known limitation of Dell UEFI? Is there a parameter in UEFI that limits the visibility of cards in the shell or other applications ? Secure boot is NOT enabled, I have not seen anything close to 'Enable UEFI Network Stack'.
Best Regards,
DELL-Chris H
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29 août 2025 16:53
Crepi22,
There are a couple of things that may help, I would recommend looking at the following:
1. UEFI Shell Driver Binding
UEFI Shell requires explicit driver binding to expose NICs.
Before running ifconfig -l, you must run:
connect -r
This command recursively connects all drivers to devices. Without it, NICs may not be initialized in the shell environment
2. Fast Boot or Minimal Boot Mode
Dell BIOS may be configured for Fast Boot, which skips full device initialization.
Disable Fast Boot in BIOS:
System BIOS > Boot Settings > Fast Boot: Set to Thorough
3. UEFI Network Stack Visibility
Dell BIOS does not always expose a setting labeled “Enable UEFI Network Stack” like HP systems.
However, network stack functionality is implicitly enabled when PXE boot is configured.
Confirm under:
System BIOS > Integrated Devices > Network Settings
Ensure UEFI PXE Boot is enabled for the NICs
Let me know if this helps.
(Modifié)
crepi22
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29 août 2025 19:17
Thanks a lot !
'connect -r' did the trick and the cards are now visible. As connect is part of EDKII, we should be able to mimick its behavior in our grub module. The only question left is why are they not connected by default when it is the case on the two other brands we have tested ?
Side note: I have not found the 'Fast boot' option under F2/System Bios/Boot Settings or in IdRac9/Configuration/Bios parameters/Boot Settings
DELL-Chris H
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29 août 2025 20:21
I am not certain as to why it would default like that, while the others wouldn't.
As far as the Fast boot, I was thinking of another system type, I apologize for that.